Great British Bake Off: the nation's favourite cakes

A favoured treat in the North of England is parkin, a gingerbread-like cake usually made with oatmeal and treacle. One of its first recorded mentions is in the diary of Dorothy Wordsworth, sister of the poet William, who wrote in her diary in 1800: ‘I was baking bread, dinner, and parkins.’ The cake is often eaten on and around Bonfire Night.